Will Southwest Really Get Rid of Free Checked Bags?

A nationally recognized reporter, writer, and consumer advocate, Ed Perkins focuses on how travelers can find the best deals and avoid scams.

He is the author of "Online Travel" (2000) and "Business Travel: When It's Your Money" (2004), the first step-by-step guide specifically written for small business and self-employed professional travelers. He was also the co-author of the annual "Best Travel Deals" series from Consumers Union.

Perkins' advice for business travelers is featured on MyBusinessTravel.com, a website devoted to helping small business and self-employed professional travelers find the best value for their travel dollars.

Perkins was founding editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, one of the country's most influential travel publications, from which he retired in 1998. He has also written for Business Traveller magazine (London).

Perkins' travel expertise has led to frequent television appearances, including ABC's "Good Morning America" and "This Week with David Brinkley," "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather," CNN, and numerous local TV and radio stations.

Before editing Consumer Reports Travel Letter, Perkins spent 25 years in travel research and consulting with assignments ranging from national tourism development strategies to the design of computer-based tourism models.

Born in Evanston, Illinois, Perkins lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife.

Don’t expect Southwest to abandon its popular policy of checking two bags at no extra charge anytime soon.

Although many industry pundits have been speculating about how much more revenue Southwest would take in by charging the standard $25 a bag, I’ve been speculating that Southwest might suffer more in lost customers than it would gain in additional fees. Happily, Southwes’s CEO confirmed that suspicion: In a recent shareholder meeting, he said that, overall, dropping the no-charge bag policy would cost the airline a net of about $1 billion a year.

Never doubt that Southwest studies the question intensively, along with the similar question of whether to impose change fees. And my guess is that, at least so far, the results show that the airline does better keeping its current popular policies than mimicking the misbegotten policies of the other carriers. I also guess that JetBlue makes similar studies—and I hope that those studies come to the same conclusions as Southwest’s: People like the idea of a no-charge checked bag.

Although nominally classed as low-fare airlines, JetBlue and Southwest seldom offer substantial fare advantages over their big competitors. Instead, they succeed, at least in part, by being different. Both consistently outpoint the other airlines on customer satisfaction surveys, and their management teams seem to have made the connection between high ratings and consumer-friendly fee policies.

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